


Better Luck Next Time!

by winterhats



Category: Kagerou Project, Mekakucity Actors
Genre: Arcades, F/M, Fluff, Silly, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26676994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterhats/pseuds/winterhats
Summary: Just a silly AU where Takane works at the arcade Haruka frequents.
Relationships: Enomoto Takane/Kokonose Haruka | Ene/Konoha
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Better Luck Next Time!

**Author's Note:**

> This is shorter than the stuff I usually write but I guess it's a nice change of pace. It's been a while since I've written something like this so I had fun!

Haruka whines miserably when the plushie falls from the crane for what it feels like the millionth time in the last hour.

This is honestly getting embarrassing.

How much money has he lost already?! He stares sadly at the stuffed triceratops through the glass, and pouts.

Poor thing, stuck there, waiting to be adopted. He simply cannot give up.

Determined, Haruka opens his wallet, takes another coin out, and shoves it inside the machine. He does his best to dodge all the other plushies, because as cute as they are, they're not a triceratops!

...But, of course, the poor thing only falls back in the mountain of stuffed friends. Okay, rather than embarrassing, this is frustrating.

Why did he decide the best way to cool his head from the other game was a claw machine? Honestly!

Haruka comes to this arcade at least once a week to try to break his own record in that shooter game, only to fail horribly each time. Well, not horribly. But it wasn't ideal to be stuck in the second place forever.

He's glad to see he's still in that spot, at least. With it being a machine at the arcade, it's not impossible for his score to be beaten whenever he doesn't come here for a while for one reason or the other, leaving him to have to work his way up again.

Though it _has_ been a while since he's been beaten from his place, which was to be expected, since with dedication and hard work there's always success! He's gotten such a high score there's a pretty big gap between his score and the rest of the list, after all. He smiles proudly to himself at the thought, despite in reality he was staring at the triceratops falling back into the pile, in yet another failed attempt. It didn't even faze him anymore.

Nevermind that. It does faze him. At this point it's not even a matter of wanting it; he _needs_ it. Not even to cheer himself up from being unable to get even _close_ of defeating the person in the first place of the shooter game anymore. At this point he just wants the triceratops in the name of his pride.

But of course the stuffed animal only falls back into the pile. Of course.

"I swear!" he whispers at it. "I _will_ get you out!"

"You know, at this point I can just give it to you."

Haruka immediately yelps at the sound of another voice, turning around in a swift. The employee behind him immediately chuckles at his reaction.

"Sorry," she says, still laughing. "I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you realized I was here."

He feels his face heat up for various reasons.

One, an employee at the arcade _just_ saw him whisper to a stuffed dinosaur through a glass, and she's probably aware he's been at it for an embarrassing amount of time. Two, Haruka's absolutely terrible at talking to people, especially employees. Three, of all employees, it's _this_ employee.

"I, uh..." after taking a bit too long to answer, of course Haruka begins with stammer. "...What?"

Takane's standing in that pose only certified cool people make, and she holds up a set of keys in front of her face, "The thing you're trying to get. I can just open the machine and give it to you."

Haruka blinks at her, and after processing her words, he can't help exclaiming, "Wh– what!?"

He has no time to feel embarrassed about his tone because Takane _laughs,_ "Listen, I know you've been at this for like two hours."

At a loss of words, Haruka just stares at her smile.

Out of the quick interactions she must have with every customer, it's not like he's ever spoken a word to Takane. He only really knows her name because of her name tag, but... oh, man. Again, Haruka is kind of nervous when talking to any kind of employee, but in front of her specifically he's made a fool out of himself countless times.

Stuttering, taking too long to grab money, saying "you too" when she says thanks for coming... But hey, who doesn't get a bit nervous in the presence of a pretty person?

Mostly so he doesn't to let his messy awkwardness get a hold of the moment, Haruka freezes himself to go over the situation.

After all, he's never seen this girl smile. _Again,_ he doesn't actually know her, but he comes here pretty often and she always has this... look. Or rather, glare, as if saying "don't talk to me or I'll rip your face off", which is probably not a great look for someone who works behind a counter.

She even straight up yells at rude customers (and working at an arcade, there's _a lot_ of those). Haruka has no idea how she doesn't get in trouble for it (and if she does, how does she manage to keep her job each time), but it's safe to say he's always scared of making her angry.

Of course she only seemed to snap at rude people, and Haruka himself does his best to be polite with everyone and especially customer service workers, but still. A pretty _and_ intimidating girl is bound to make someone jittery.

So it's because of this he feels surprised (and honestly, also pretty nervous) at both her smile and kind offer. He clears his throat before speaking, "I, um... No thanks, I wouldn't wanna cheat like that."

"Cheat?" Takane crosses her arms, and hums. "I wouldn't call it cheating if you've paid the machine probably more than the dinosaur is worth. How much money have you spent, anyway?"

"I don't even wanna know, really," he looks away, blushing. He hears Takane laugh again,

" _Well,_ how about I just move it?" she says, shaking the set of keys again as if to tempt him. "I can put it in a more convenient spot for you to grab."

He won't lie that he considers it for a second, but Haruka ultimately just shakes his head, "Still cheating! B – besides, wouldn't you get in trouble for doing something like that?"

Takane looks around the empty arcade and shrugs, "They can't get mad at me for something they don't know, you know?"

He blushes. She...

_She's really cool..._

"U – um, well! Thank you for the offer but I'll rather, um, work for it!"

"I think you've worked enough already, but hey, whatever you prefer," she says, and takes a step forward. Haruka feels his legs turn into jelly at her proximity, but she just smiles, "Let me try. Do you have a coin?"

"Oh, um... sure?" Haruka steps out of the way to let her be in front of the machine, and nervously reaches for his pocket to take his wallet out. Takane takes the coin with strange confidence.

Somehow, the afternoon took a turn, but Haruka won't complain. He's even kind of glad he decided to take a break from the shooter and give this situation a place to happen.

Soon, the claw had the triceratops in the air. Haruka watches, feeling his heart in his throat, because picking up the plushie in itself was a tough job. Getting it to make it all the way out was another thing in itself, though, so as he watched it move through the machine, he felt more and more nervous.

Because... if she gets it on her first try... he has no idea who he'll recover from this.

There's no way she's going to, though. It's impossible. Haruka's been trying to do this for two hours, maybe even more and– Ah.

She did it. She really did it.

"Ah~ Lucky~" Takane chirps, before crouching to take the plushie from the machine. "I'm pretty good at these, you know?"

Haruka just watches her with a frozen expression, and she laughs again.

"Aww, sorry, did I stain your man pride?"

"N – no, it's not about that," Haruka covers his face, completely defeated. Takane raises an eyebrow at the reaction, but her amused expression didn't leave her face, like she wasn't really surprised to see he wasn't the type of guy to get like that over a girl beating him in a game. "C – congratulations for adopting him, please take care of him~"

"Uh, who?" Takane tilts her head to the side. After a moment of confusion her eyes land on the plushie she's holding, "Ohhh. Oh, don't worry. I don't really care for this stuff, you can have it."

"What!?"

Before he can help it, the triceratops is shoved to him. Takane shrugs, "It was your coin, anyway."

Haruka stares at her, dumbfounded. This girl...

_...is so kind._

She always looks ready to kill, so he can't help feeling surprised right now. He knows people at work are tired and are far from being themselves, but this really was night and day. 

"Well," Takane goes, straightening her posture a bit. In an instant, she was turning around, "See ya. Good luck–"

"Ah! Wait!"

Haruka swallows back an apology over raising his voice, and Takane looks back at him over her shoulder, slightly taken back. 

Holding onto the plushie, he nervously forces out, "U – Um! Wh – why did you... uh, why did you help me?"

Takane raises an eyebrow again, and puts her hands on her waist, "Already told you? I felt sorry this machine was kicking your ass."

"Oh," Haruka feels his face heat up, because– why did he ask that!? What kind of answer was he expecting, really! This is so embarrassing! "Y – yeah, haha, makes sense–"

"And I guess that also because, uh," Takane didn't seem flustered at all, but she does look away a bit awkwardly. "I don't know, you're a regular, and you're always nice to the staff. So many dude bros come here that it's a nice change of pace when someone isn't a total ass."

Haruka feels himself relax at the answer. He felt at least a bit reassured she didn't just know him as the awkward mess who always pays with sweaty hands.

"But you always come here to play that game, right? The shooter?"

"Ah," suddenly being hit by a wave of self consciousness, Haruka tightens the hold of the dinosaur. She pays attention to him? "Y – yeah, I honestly started playing with the claw machine to get distracted from that one, hahaha...."

"I mean, it does get a bit repetitive so it's understandable to take a break from it. It doesn't even have a story or anything."

"Not really! I always have fun with it– Wait, you play it too?"

"Wh!" suddenly nervous, Takane forces out a laugh. "N – not at all. Uh, I just. Kinda know it, but– um, yeah. Anyway, why get distracted from it then?"

"Oh, um," still slightly confused over Takane's strange reaction, he explains, "Well... I've been trying to get the first place on the score list for months."

At his words, there's a shimmer of something in Takane's eyes. He's not sure _why,_ but it seemed like the conversation was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world to her, "Oh? Hm... that's gonna be hard... I think the highest score in that machine has been there for a looong time."

"W – well, yeah! It's always grabbed my attention how high their score is, that's why I wanna beat it!" Haruka says, too pumped with the subject of this little resolution he's made for himself to notice Takane's shift. "I'm pretty close, actually! My record is only around a couple thousand points below theirs. It's true it's been a while since I've broken it, but–"

"Wait, _what?"_ Takane cuts him off, completely taken back. "But– what!? That score is so high! There's no way you're only a few thousands below!"

"Well, I am!" Haruka announces proudly. " _Hehehe..._ I wish I could see how they'd react to being beaten..."

Haruka's head cools off from the excitement of talking about the game he likes at the sight of Takane's pause. She had her arms crossed, and she kept tapping her finger on her arm, as if thinking.

Ah, has he said something to upset her? Maybe she didn't like that he went on about something she doesn't care about. He was about to apologize, when she suddenly speaks up,

"Maybe they won't see it. I mean, how are you so sure they still come here at all?"

"I just know!"

"Huuuh..." Takane says, a confident smirk taking place. "Weird."

"Not weird! It's so cool. I follow them online!"

Her confident face melts off in a blink, " _What._ "

"Well, at least I _think_ it's them!" Haruka nods to himself. "There's someone with the same name online and they stream shooters and stuff like that, they're _so_ good at it! I thought it was too much of a coincidence such a high score had this name here, _in another shooting game,_ so I like to think it's the same person. They're pretty mysteryous so it's really impossible to know, they don't even talk in their videos or anything..."

"...Uh."

"I've been wanting to beat their score ever since then!" he says, practically with stars in his eyes by this point. "I hope they'll be impressed~"

Haruka's too excited to even notice how flustered Takane had become, so he doesn't really question it when she stutters. "I, um– Wh – what's with you, wanting to impress someone you don't even know!?"

"I don't know, it's just that they're really cool, so–"

"Well! How do you come to that conclusion!" Takane furrows her brows, and even Haruka can step back to finally realize she _might_ be getting a bit annoyed. As to why it's a mystery, but Haruka's sure he did something wrong. "You said yourself they're a mystery. Maybe they're a shitty person."

"No way! They're really nice!"

"How do you know?"

"Because!" Haruka holds the triceratops under his arm so he can take out his wallet, offended anyone would even question this. "Because, look!"

Takane seemed to be about to say something else when he reaches over a small piece of paper towards her. She blinks at it, confused, apparently taking her time to read what it said.

_Because it's nothing other than... a note from Ene themselves! Hahaha!_

Truth be told– sometimes, things at home can be a bit rough. His dad is barely around and when he is, he's just... well, kind of a lot.

Being in college already he knows he should probably just move out, but it's really not that simple. The thought of suggesting the idea to his father sends a shiver down his spine.

The last time he broke his record, around two months ago, Haruka spent almost an entire weekend inside the arcade, when he usually only stays for a few hours. 

That week in particular home had been pretty taxing, and it obviously showed on his face. Not that he thinks anyone ever pays attention to him but... when he came back to the arcade the next day, there was a sticky note on the machine that read, 

_"Don't look so down. Continue doing your best._

_Ene."_

"Ene wrote this for me one day, because they noticed I was feeling down!" Haruka draws the paper back to himself, and looks at it fondly. "That's how I know they still come here, and that they're nice. That's why I looked them up, too. I'm very glad to support a nice person like that... and I thought that it'd be cool for someone that amazing to be impressed with my score!"

"Y – you–" Takane, completely red in the face, looks away in what seemed like anger. She crossed her arms over her chest, holding tightly onto the set of keys from the games. "I can't believe you keep something like that, it was months ago... and in your wallet, of all places. And it's not like it changes anything, for all you know she's probably still lame as hell!"

"I don't think so, because–" Haruka pauses, blinking at her for a second. "Wait, she?"

"Huh?"

"You said she... wait, does that mean that you–" he starts saying, before realization fully hits him. When it does, he points at Takane with a confused, but accusing finger. She bites her lip and winces, as if expecting the worst. And then he says, "You know Ene!?"

Ahaha. His deduction skills are so good. He's so smart. Takane's expression practically falls to the floor, " _Huh._ "

"Amazing! Oh, of course you know her!" Haruka almost starts jumping in excitement, as Takane quickly starts going "wait, wait, wait!". "Working here, of course you know who else plays in that machine. Ohhh my gosh, that's so exciting. Now I absolutely wanna beat her! Ah, please tell me her reaction when I do!"

...Wait. Hm? Wait.

Haruka reviews the conversation one more time. He could almost hear the rewind sound of a tape inside his mind.

Takane said...

_"I can't believe you keep something like that, it was months ago."_

It was months ago.

How... how did she know how long ago it was? Did he mention it?

_No, I don't think I did._

He stares down at the note, dumbfounded. Ohhh. Oh.

"Wow, wow! How are you so sure you _will_ beat her!? Also, I don't know her! Them! Whatever!" Takane, on her part, doesn't notice Haruka's sudden revelation, and stomps her foot on the floor in annoyance. She turns around, her long hair almost whipping his face. "Whatever! Have fun at _failing_ to beat her score!"

It takes him a second to process, but by the moment he does she's already walking away, "Wa – wait!"

"Leave me alone! I have work to do!"

Watching her walk away, Haruka does his best to quickly put the note back in his wallet and rush to follow her, "Takane!"

"Don't call me by my name like you know me!"

"Okay then, Ene!?"

Takane stops dead on her tracks.

She turns around almost robotically, her face white as a ghost. Well, that's one way to confirm it.

"Ah, so I was right?" Haruka smiles. In one second, Takane's white face turns to pink. No, red. Wow, this girl's face is one diverse palette. "Sorry that it took me a second to figure out!"

Takane attempts to conceal her embarrassment through trying to look angry. But even someone as clueless as Haruka can see she wanted to crawl inside a hole, so he can't help but chuckle at the sight of her trembling lips stammering out, "I... don't know what you're talking about."

"Huuuh~"

"Shut up! Just stop!" ah, oops, she sounded really scary right now. Haruka immediately does as he's told, swallowing back an "I'm sorry" since he somehow knows that'd just annoy her. Takane bends down, holding on her head. Now seemingly talking to herself, Haruka hears her mumbling, "I can't believe this. This cannot be happening. I have to delete my account."

"Uuum, Takane, you–"

"You... won't tell anyone, right?"

"What?"

She lifts her head, looking up at him with a severe glare, " _You won't leak my workplace to the internet, right?"_

As scary as her eyes looked at the moment, Haruka doesn't let that distract him from the meaning of her words. It just clicks to him that this girl has _many_ followers online.

He quickly shakes his head, almost scandalized at the thought, "Goodness, I would never do something like that! You have been nothing but kind to me, how could I ever do that to you?"

Takane's face expression softens at the answer, but she still avoided eye contact, "A – again with the _being nice_ thing... Ugh, fine. You better mean it, alright!?"

He nods enthusiastically, "I'll keep your secret, Ene!"

She rolls her eyes, speaking through gritted teeth, "Takane is fine, uh..."

Haruka stares back at her, expectantly, since it seemed like she forgot what she was going to say or something. He just tilts his head to the side, waiting patiently, until she gives up and clicks her tongue to say, "I'm asking for your name, dude."

"Oh!" he feels his face heat up when he realizes he hasn't even told her his name yet, despite he's holding a plushie she got for him. "I'm Haruka! I'm Haruka!"

Why did he say it twice!?

"...Why say it twice?" she chuckles, and she does it so lightly Haruka can really feel his heart squishing inside his chest.

He doesn't have time to continue admiring her laugh though, because he starts feeling his phone buzzing inside his pocket. There's really one person who calls him, so Haruka's immediately taken over by anxiety.

Of course, the contact on his screen is "dad." Haruka looks outside the arcade with a wince, and– oh, boy. The streets were painted in orange, letting him know the sun was setting already. His dad is most likely _not_ happy he's not home yet.

"I – I have to go," he announces, and Takane just shrugs with indifference. "Thank you so much, E– I mean, Takane! For the note, and the plushie, and... um, everything!"

"...Whatever," she says. With the same comfortable tone, she says, "Okay, Haruka... and just so you know..."

_Oh... she's saying my name._

_It sounds so good in her voice._

"You leak any info about me and I'll spray you with pepper spray and kick your ass, 'kay?"

That's... a scary thing to say with such a friendly tone. Almost like she attached a drawing of a heart next to the statement. However, it only makes Haruka feel his mind become completely lovestruck, "I respect that very much."

Another weird thing to say, so of course Takane just chuckles again. Despite her giggle, he doesn't doubt she'll go through with it if he were to leak information, though.

However, his phone continues buzzing in his hand, so in a hurry, Haruka tries waving, "Um! Anyway, see you!"

"Yeah, bye."

He smiles at her and she nods at him. Reluctantly, Haruka turns around to go, but he barely makes it two steps before Takane calls back,

"Be ready to get your ass kicked again whenever you beat my score, okay?"

Haruka turns back around to find her smiling, "I– I'm looking forward to it!"

Of course he gets yelled at by his dad once he's back, but holding onto his new triceratops friend, Haruka still decides it was a good day. It can't be a bad day if he's got a text from Ene herself when he gets home, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Shintaro is probably a customer Takane has yelled at before. I just wanted to add that, bye.


End file.
